The Curious Case of Indian Elections
In the midst of allegation and counter-allegation season of Indian politics, the run-up to 2009 Lok Sabha polls has some heart-warming developments as well. The list of candidates dominated by dynastic and criminal credentials includes some successful non-political personalities this time.
Captain GR Gopinath, CMD, Deccan Express Logistics is contesting as an independent candidate from Bangalore for the April-May Lok Sabha elections. GR Gopinath is identified with revolutionizing air travel in India through the low cost Air Deccan Airline service. Victory for him is defined as getting 20% people involved in civic activities.
Meera Sanyal, Country Head of ABN Amro Bank will be contesting as an independent candidate from South Mumbai. Her five point agenda and master plan for Mumbai is hosted on her website www.meerahsanyal.in
Meera’s video message on her site is impressive and unlike the hosts of election messages we are used to listening. She has a huge support base at face book and aspires to revive the qualities of intellect and ideals in Indian politics.
Dr. Mallika Sarabhai is contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Gandhinagar against veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani. She again is an independent candidate and is making extensive use of the web (She has a website at http://mallikasarabhai.in/) to spread her message and attract voters.
According to N.R. Narayanan Murthy, independent candidates have the potential of strengthening Indian Democracy. But in the murky waters of Indian politics there is little hope that these candidates will emerge victorious. Nevertheless, it is commendable that intellectuals in India are aspiring to make a distinct impact on the voters rather than merely contesting to win a seat. The socio-political contribution of such candidates cannot be measured through electoral victories. But the fact that such well-deserving candidates do not manage to secure electoral success raises serious questions about the intelligence of the Indian voter. Will we continue to evade responsibility by taking refuge in the traditional excuse that illiterate majorities decide election results in India?
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After reading your blog somehow i am less pessimistic now with regards to the Indian politics. Hope all these people win. You missed one name though - Shashi Tharoor (former under secretary- general to UN) who is standing from Thiruvantpuram from Kerala, though he is from Congress.
I left out Tharoor on purpose…though he is an impressive candidate, I wanted to concentrate on candidates who dared to enter the political fray without support from any political party.
There is an old saying “India lives in villages”…I don’t agree with that….to me the correct thing is “Most of India is a village”…Look at the voting pattern
Multiparty systems have led to regionalism. U have a political parties in each nook and corner of country where people just vote these folks some without thinking or because of fear(Bihar), some for money, some for caste (North india, Tamil Nadu), some vote for superstars (like in Andhra) and some just vote (Like why CPM keeps coming to power in W. Bengal) so rest of country and exit poll guys can go wrong and wrong !!!!
Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore are the so called somewhat Non Village junta…The trend is emerging and 20 years down the line there will be lot more cities in the above list.
All the candidates covered by you are contesting from the above mentioned Non Village(also called Metros) and there is a good chance that they will make a difference…I think Meera sanyal has a good chance of winning south mumbai (if not this time then surely next time).
Indian Democracy needs trendsetters and I think Meera or Gopinath could be one of them but the trend is set not by merely winning but by justifying the win and working for constituents.
I sincerly hope that Indians realize the great alternative they have in form of Meera and Gopinath. Some of the drawbacks our political parties may find with them are
1. They are no superstars of bollywood
2. They do not have any murder cases against them
3. They unfortunately also went to college and speak devils language “English”
4. They do not wear Khaadi
5. They are rich and thus cannot feel poor people’s misery…true leaders always engage in atleast one scam.
6. They are minorities in their constituencies
It’s a long road..I wish sense prevails in Indian voter’s mind and then we will see lot more Meera’s in our parliament.
The point of discussion would be what happens if these people win? India today “politics of convenience”. Both parties and people get together for their own benefit and are ruining the national wealth. I have been made to understand that if there was not to be any CORRUPTION in India then the GDP would have been 7.5% - 8% in recession. The sad part is we (tax payers) are paying for the security guard of a dog of a POLITICIAN (not naming anybody here). We are paying for luxury trips of the ministers and we ourselves are deprived of decent holidays in India.
I personally would want these mentioned people to WIN so that there is a start and an example is set but i wonder if these people would join Bigger parties later and get DISSOLVED………lets see!!
Good article. I find all the independent candidates quite impressive with the exception of Mallika Sarabhai. I do not know if you are aware of the fact that a couple of years ago a case was filed against her for helping illegal immigrants into the US or something similar. Very good. Keep it up
You left out Jayaprakash Narayan of Loksatta.
Thanks for pointing out the aberration, I will correct it asap.